Kennedy scandal waitress returns to bar--violently

July 07, 1991|By Cox News Service

PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The waitress who told the world about Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in his underwear, wrestled with a reporter on national television and then disappeared into the Florida Keys returned Friday night to the nightspot that made her famous.

Michele Cassone shattered a glass door after tangling with a bartender at Au Bar, the club where the Kennedy scandal began, employees said.

Ms. Cassone became a focal point of the Kennedy scandal when she described with lurid detail the night that led to rape charges being filed against William Kennedy Smith in an alleged attack on a Jupiter woman.

Au Bar maitre d' Stuart Lichtenstein said she came into the club at midnight Friday. At about 2 a.m., a bartender said she had had enough to drink and refused to serve her, Mr. Lichtenstein said.

He said she began smashing glasses, and when the bartender came around the bar to stop her, she grabbed his tie. Mr. Lichtenstein said he escorted her to the back door, which she kicked until the quarter-inch-thick glass shattered.

Police wrote a report that does not name a suspect. They are declining to comment because the judge in the Smith case has issued a gag order.